Local bodybuilder eyes big prize
Date: 06-08-2010
Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States |
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Local bodybuilder Mark Adams can tell he's getting closer to show day.
"I'm getting a little cranky," he said.
Adams, a 47-year-old amateur bodybuilder from Cold Spring, has entered two events Saturday in Frankfort. He will compete in the Kentucky State Bodybuilding, Figure and Bikini Championships, and the Central Kentucky Novice Bodybuilding, Figure and Bikini Classic.
The state event, a national qualifying show, is mandatory for bodybuilders who want to compete professionally.
The National Physique Committee, the governing body of amateur bodybuilding and fitness for the International Federation of Bodybuilding, requires that an amateur win a national qualifying event before being eligible to earn a pro card.
The 5-foot-8, 200-pound Adams is competing as a middleweight in the open competition of the 40-and-up Masters division. He is at the end of a 12-week, weight-loss and conditioning program that melted 25 pounds of muscle-concealing body weight from his chiseled frame in time for weigh-in, where he can't exceed 175 pounds.
It's been a grueling 22-hour-a-week routine of weightlifting and body-sculpting, and included a challenging end-game diet that consisted of scant portions of fish, salads, vegetables, egg whites and baby food.
"The diet varies over the last 12 weeks before the show until the final three weeks," Adams said. "I'll eat 3,500 calories a day until the final three weeks, then I'll go down to 1,200 calories a day. Right now, I'm hungry, grumpy and carb-deprived."
Adams ate just 24 grams of carbohydrates a day in his final push to carve his most optimum physique, and he got it in one container of Gerber's sweet potato baby food.
Frankfort show promoter Gene Goode, a competitor-turned-personal trainer who runs Precision Fitness, a gym in Stanford, Ky., said the bulk of his event's entry forms arrived in the final days before the deadline. But not Adams' application.
"An older guy like Mark Adams, he's really dedicated. He knows he's going to be there and he's working hard," said Goode, who knows what the competitors are going through right now - pain.
"It's an extremely disciplined sport. You really have to have your head together to do it," Goode said. "I get complaints all the time from wives who call me and say we ought to give trophies to the wives too because of what they have to put up with while their husbands get grumpy as they get in shape for a show."
Adams, who is single, said bodybuilders learn to deal with all of the challenges presented by the brutal nature of preparing to compete in the sport. Not only is he sculpting his physique, he is a candy designer for Galerie in Hebron, and strikes a delicate juggling act with his career and his hobby.
"I like to see if I can push the limits," Adams said. "I've been competing for seven years now. I weighed 150 pounds when I seriously began thinking about bodybuilding as a way to exercise and get in shape. It's a great stress relief from work."
Adams hooked up with a former Mr. America from New York and started seeing changes in his own body after months of dedicated training. He said the deltoids in his shoulders are the toughest muscles on his body to sculpt.
"I'm fairly narrow-shouldered and they are difficult to work on," he said.
But, he stays at it. After all, he's way past the really hard part - getting started.
"Less than one-half of 1 percent of the people who join the NPC will not compete," Adams said. "I do it because it's very rewarding and very satisfying and I stay healthy. And even though you give up so much just to be on a stage for a matter of minutes, it is really a lot of fun."
